


What's Precious Isn't Gold

by carzla



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Accidents, Angst, F/M, Family, M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 07:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carzla/pseuds/carzla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone had different definitions of “treasure”. First instinct would probably make one think of gold, silver and diamonds. But treasure came in other forms too. Such as honey-brown hair, sparkling sea-blue eyes, a soft sincere smile…</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Precious Isn't Gold

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2006.

Treasure needn’t have to be caskets full of gleaming gold, shiny silver or even dazzling diamonds by the millions.

No, it certainly did not need to be that. That was much too superficial.

To her ‘Tou-san, treasure was chin length honey-brown hair, sparkling sea-blue eyes, a soft sincere smile…

And that dusty brown chest in the corner of the study.

* * *

Tezuka Shuriko remembered that particular chest from since she was a child. It happened to be one of her favorite hiding spots as the tiny space between the chest and the wall was just enough for her to hide in comfortably. And when she hid there, ‘Kaa-san never could find her and she’d never let ‘Kaa-san know where she hid. She couldn’t lose such a wonderful hidey-hole.

However, the day wherein she had – for the first time – successfully managed to convince ‘Tou-san to play a game of hide-and-seek was also the day she learnt never to be near the chest unnecessarily again.

No, ‘Tou-san didn’t scold her when he had found her hiding there. Instead, ‘Tou-san’s eyes had suddenly dulled with something that even to her young and naïve eyes, looked very much like sadness. It was one of her most vivid memories of ‘Tou-san. ‘Tou-san had quietly told her to find ‘Kaa-san and when the door closed that day, ‘Tou-san didn’t appear again until the next morning. Not even ‘Kaa-san knocking on the door caused him to open the door. Not wanting to see that happen again, she hadn’t gone near the chest ever since.

Despite that knowledge, Shuriko still felt curious about the contents of the chest and why it was so significant to ‘Tou-san. She’d tried asking ‘Kaa-san more than once over the years, hoping to catch ‘Kaa-san off guard so she would reveal something. However, no matter how many times she had tried, ‘Kaa-san never seemed to be careless enough to slip up (Shuriko had attributed that to ‘Tou-san’s signature quote because, surely, after hearing it for such a long time, it would be ingrained into her) and hence refused to tell her anything about the chest. She would always say in a gentle tone that it wasn’t her place to say anything.

This meant that she would have to ask ‘Tou-san directly if she wanted to know more about it. But she was afraid of what would happen if she did ask her father. She reckoned she’d prefer a scolding rather than seeing that kind of deep-rooted sadness in ‘Tou-san’s eyes again. Something told her that the root of her queries lay in ‘Tou-san’s teenage years due to the mere fact that ‘Tou-san never told her much about it whenever she asked.

Oh, she knew well enough that ‘Tou-san was famous in the tennis circuit during his junior high and high school years at Seishun Gakuen, which currently was the school she was studying in. Even until now, the name ‘Tezuka Kunimitsu’ was still a much-revered one within the Seigaku boys tennis club for ‘Tou-san was not only one of the captains that had led Seigaku to national glory but he was also one of the seven Japanese players to take the world by storm when they had first debuted as professionals.

But anything more specific like his life in Seigaku was totally lost to her. It probably was strange that she was so interested in her father’s teenage years considering most of those her age wouldn’t give two hoots about their parents’ teenage life. But ‘Tou-san was always unusually quiet about it (he didn’t even like to mention the _tennis_ aspect of that life) and ‘Kaa-san didn’t know ‘Tou-san yet when he was a student in Seigaku…

So _obviously_ she wanted to know about ‘Tou-san when he was around her age. Somehow, it was difficult to imagine ‘Tou-san as a teenager though. She was almost certain that ‘Tou-san wasn’t that much different now than in the past.

In the end though, she had learnt about ‘Tou-san’s teenage life and found out about the contents of the chest at the same time. It was quite an accident really. Certain events had eventually led to her ultimate discovery of the contents.

* * *

Oishi-san and Eiji-san had come visiting, but both ‘Kaa-san and ‘Tou-san were out and she happened to be tidying up the house. Oishi-san and Eiji-san offered to help her despite her protests that it wouldn’t be fitting for guests to do such chores and she wouldn’t be a good host. Oishi-san had stopped her protests by pointing out that two more pairs of hands would make quicker work of cleaning up and then she could concentrate on being “a good host”.

Indeed, as Oishi-san had said, the work was done much more quickly with his and Eiji-san’s help. Well, if she was being honest, it was Oishi-san who was doing most of the work while Eiji-san was occasionally distracted by random objects around the house (they were usually the shiny ones). Still, it wasn’t long before the last room of the house had to be tidied.

That was the study room.

Shuriko wasn’t too keen on tiding that particular room as ‘Tou-san disliked his work and belongings being moved from their original places and then having them being misplaced in the process. Although, she had to admit, that it was mainly because of that chest that had her worrying about cleaning the room. She _did_ have a pretty good memory, and usually could remember which item went where.

However, she was stuck with cleaning the house for the day and Eiji-san was especially curious about the study room for reasons unfathomable. Furthermore… well, Eiji-san had a way of making the word “no” sound like _utter blasphemy_ in the face of all his enthusiasm. So the three of them had started to tidy the study – not that there was much to do. ‘Tou-san was extremely neat and organized, so other than some light dusting and wiping of tabletops, there wasn’t much more to do.

At least that was it if she ignored the chest. Shuriko tried to do so. But with an ever-meticulous Oishi-san and ever-curious Eiji-san, it proved to be impossible.

“Ne, Shuriko-chan, what’s inside this chest?” Eiji-san had asked her, just like what he had been doing for the past few minutes. “I really like the light brown color to it too!”

“ _Maa…_ I don’t know, Eiji-san. I don’t enter the study often…”

“Hmm… that’s interesting…” Eiji-san said to himself. “ _Ah hah!_ Tezuka must be hiding some secret! Let’s go find out!”

“I don’t see what big secret he could be hiding… other than his oh-so-mysterious teenage years,” Shuriko half-mumbled, half-snorted to Eiji-san’s statement. It was only meant for her ears only, but both Oishi-san and Eiji-san had been close enough to overhear.

“Tezuka has _never_ told you about Seigaku?” came both Oishi-san and Eiji-san’s surprised question.

“Oh no, no… I know about him being an excellent tennis player, but he never goes into detail about his school life… Like his friends, y’know. _Eto…_ I don’t remember ‘Tou-san saying much about his life as a tennis professional either.”

Shuriko noted with considerable surprise at the sudden change of mood in both men. Eiji-san had become totally still and was sharing a significant look that seemed to have a dark undertone to it with Oishi-san. Had she said something wrong?

“Shuriko-chan… do you know who were the Seigaku regulars when Tezuka was captain of the team?” Oishi-san asked her in a _very, extremely, **painfully** careful_ tone.

“Eh… I know that you and Eiji-san were the Golden Pair of Seigaku and that Echizen-san was part of the team too. But that’s all.”

Another significant look was shared between the two as silence took its hold over them.

“ _Ano…_ Oishi-san? Eiji-san? Is something wrong?” she asked, finding the silence increasingly unnerving.

“Ah, no, no! _Nothing’s_ wrong, ne Eiji?”

“You’re so amusing, Shuriko-chan! What could be wrong, ne? Hey, would you like to know about your dad’s teenage life? We could tell you _everything_ , y’know! I bet that everything to do with Seigaku is hidden in that chest! Let’s check it out, okay?”

Before either Oishi-san or she could protest, Eiji-san had swept them both away and towards the dusty chest in the corner of the study. Eiji-san had then proceeded to give the chest a once over before reaching forward to open it. And Eiji-san was absolutely right, because the first thing they saw when the top drawer opened was a photo album with the words “Seigaku Tennis Club: Batch of 2000” scrawled across it in fancy lettering.

As more and more of the drawers were pulled open enthusiastically by Eiji-san, more and more items related to ‘Tou-san’s teenage years were unveiled. By the time the contents of the second last drawer was revealed, the items had already led up to the years where ‘Tou-san had been a tennis pro. It rather amazed Shuriko that the drawer could contain so many things. But what was even more astonishing was that ‘Tou-san actually _kept_ all of those items – some of the Seigaku mementoes looked suspiciously like sheets of _training schedules_. She never knew that her father was the nostalgic type.

“Hmm… Something’s missing from all of these things,” Eiji-san suddenly muttered. “Don’t you think so too, Oishi?”

“ _Aa…_ ”

Shuriko looked at her two uncles, head inclined to one side in confusion. The solemn expressions had briefly skittered across the two men’s faces once again. There was something that her two uncles weren’t telling her yet.

“ _Saa!_ Let’s open the last one!”

The last drawer, however, had a lock to it. Shuriko watched as her two uncles shared another significant look when they realized that the drawer was locked. Then suddenly, Eiji-san darted over to the desk and grabbed a paper clip, which he promptly bent out of its usual shape. He then crouched in front of the drawer, pressed his ear to the wood and inserted the clip into the keyhole. After some fiddling, Eiji-san broke into a smile and slid open the drawer.

“Wow, Eiji-san! I didn’t know you could pick locks!”

Eiji-san merely winked and gave her the victory sign before looking intently at the contents of the drawer. From where she was standing, she couldn’t see Eiji-san’s expression but she did notice that his hand on the edge of the drawer had tightened before he swiftly shut the drawer. Shuriko had no time to question him as Eiji-san had immediately stood up and whipped out the photo album from earlier before steering her to the couch in the study.

“Let’s start from the top, ne Shuriko-chan?”

“Uh, _hai_ …”

…

It turned out that ‘Tou-san’s time as the tennis club captain was pretty exciting. Well, he _had_ to have an interesting time what with dealing with such a varied spectrum of regulars. What surprised Shuriko was that she actually identified some of the members of the tennis club as the characters of some stories ‘Tou-san occasionally told her when she was younger.

Momoshiro-san and Kaidou-san were the always-bickering rivals. But like how it went in real life and in the stories, they eventually built a strong and sturdy friendship. Oh, and the girl in ‘Tou-san’s stories about Momoshiro-san and Kaidou-san turned out to be An-san, whom was Momoshiro-san’s wife now.

Inui-san was a feature in any story that had to do with experiments – especially those on food. He was the “mad scientist” (“He’s just our data analyzer,” came Oishi-san’s hurried correction.) of the Seigaku regulars it seemed. Shuriko didn’t know whether to doubt Eiji-san about the fact that you could faint after a sip of “Inui Juice” or to believe him because Oishi-san actually _agreed_ with Eiji-san on the fainting part.

Then there was Kawamura-san whom, according to both uncles, turned from a quiet and meek person into a fiery and loud man upon contact with a tennis racquet. Kawamura-san, she realized, was also the owner of that wonderful sushi shop that ‘Kaa-san often brought her to.

Of course, there was Echizen-san. Her impression of Echizen-san was that he was quiet and not very sociable. While she was right, she never knew that Echizen-san was (and supposedly still is) very cocky. Well, Shuriko assumed that he had the right to be for he really was talented in quite a number of sports with tennis being the best. She also found out, unintentionally, (because Eiji-san was on a talking spree on everything to do with ‘ _Ochibi_ ’ and couldn’t be stopped for the world) about the whole long story behind how Echizen-san and Sakuno-san got together.

Eiji-san and Oishi-san also mentioned some of the rival players during their time, the most memorable one being Atobe-san. It wasn’t hard to remember him as all his flashy and diva-like ways tended to ingrain themselves into your mind whether you wanted them to or not. Besides, the Atobe name was pretty much famous throughout Japan. Atobe-san was possibly also ‘Tou-san’s closest friend from a rival school.

After which, the mood had turned a little more somber…

“Ne, Shuriko-chan…”

“Hmm?”

“The next and probably last person we’re going introduce to you is our last regular member…”

“Eh? I thought there were only eight places on the team?”

Oishi-san smiled wanly at her. “You thought right, but the regular members do change sometimes with the ranking matches… although the tensai of our team never lost his place before.”

“Why did you leave him to the last?”

“Because Fujiko-chan is the key to everything,” stated Eiji-san as he walked back to the drawer and opened the last drawer, taking what looked like another photo album and some miscellaneous things out.

He returned, sat down next to her and opened the photo album. The first page showed an array of pictures all of the same person – a smiling teenage boy with light brown hair and eyes that were shut.

“ _This_ is Fuji Syuusuke,” murmured Eiji-san as his grip on the album tightened. Oishi-san quietly placed a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s… really…”

“Pretty?” Eiji-san prompted with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Fuji’s been described as that often enough. He was really popular with the female population of the school too. Almost as popular as Tezuka. But wait until you see him with his eyes open…” Eiji-san sounded extremely wistful and that raised alarms in Shuriko’s mind.

The next few pictures were of Fuji-san playing tennis, and despite the photos being still shots, she could almost feel the gracefulness of Fuji-san’s movements. There were some shots in which he seemed to have an ethereal-like quality. Then came a photo of Fuji-san with his eyes open and a determined expression on his features. Shuriko couldn’t help but stare. His eyes were a brilliant shade of blue that was very much different from Eiji-san’s. They were captivating and Fuji-san looked really, really…

“Not many people see Fuji’s eyes open though… you’re either really lucky or _unlucky_ if you do,” Oishi-san said, a hint of a smile creeping up on his lips.

“Eh?”

“Because most of the time when he does open his eyes, you’ll be in big trouble. He might not look it, but Fujiko-chan’s quite the sadist when provoked… You should’ve seen how he crushed Mizuki. Fujiko let him take a 5-0 lead before turning the tables and winning 5-7, without letting him score _a single point_!”

“That’s… that’s… _wow_.” Shuriko wondered what Fuji-san’s opponent had done. “Why did he do that, Eiji-san?”

“Mizuki taught Yuuta-kun – that’s Fuji’s younger brother – the Twist Spin Shot. It’s a tennis move that could damage his brother’s shoulder at that time because his bones were still growing. He knew the possible effects of that move but didn’t bother to tell Yuuta-kun about it, hence why Fuji was so angry. Fuji gets really angry when someone does something to hurt the people he loves and cares greatly about.”

There was a short pause before Eiji-san continued. “Oh and he almost beat Tezuka after Tezuka had recovered from his injury! That match was brilliant! I still think it’s one of the best matches I’ve ever seen – and it was only an intra-school ranking match! Ne, Oishi?”

“Yeah. The atmosphere was like the world finals. Both Fuji and Tezuka were so focused; I think they didn’t know that us regulars existed that day. The match ended 7-6 to Tezuka, but it could’ve gone either way.”

They continued to look at the photo album for some time in silence. There were now other kinds of photos, such as of scenery and beautiful architecture. Shuriko knew that these pictures had to have been taken by Fuji-san. But they didn’t explain much to her. Unable to stand the silence, Shuriko decided to ask the questions that were bugging her.

“Eiji-san, Oishi-san, why are things related to Fuji-san kept such a secret? What was his relationship with ‘Tou-san…? Were they close friends or something? You said earlier that he was “the key to everything”. And why are you exchanging so many significant looks!?”

“Fuji is dead,” came Eiji-san’s voice, quiet and inflectionless. “The accident happened twenty years ago.”

* * *

It was now a week after the incident with Eiji-san and Oishi-san. Shuriko was now waiting a little nervously in her room… for ‘Tou-san’s reaction to the little ‘gift’ she had left on the study table. She had seen ‘Tou-san enter the study about ten minutes ago and she was beginning to feel that it wasn’t such a good idea to have done what she did. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering about at an all time high.

“Shuriko.”

“Ah, ‘Tou-san… yes?”

She noted that in ‘Tou-san’s hands was the ‘gift’ she had placed on his table earlier. She also saw a deadly serious expression on ‘Tou-san’s face. That caused the nervousness she was already feeling heighten until it felt vaguely like fear.

“This picture… Explain. _Please._ ” He placed the sheet of paper on her desk and she noticed that his hands were shaking slightly.

Shuriko swallowed uncertainly, but decided to trudge on. If she had already dug her grave with the picture, she might as well take the initiative to step into it and prepare for burial. So she explained to ‘Tou-san about Eiji-san and Oishi-san’s visit a week ago, about how they told her about his life in Seigaku. About the regular members. About the rivals. And lastly, about Fuji-san.

All the while, she watched ‘Tou-san’s expression carefully. But ‘Tou-san was very good at masking his emotions – just like what Oishi-san had said. It didn’t serve to calm her down but freaked her out even more. She wished to know what her father was thinking, how he was feeling. She wanted to know that she hadn’t made a wrong move. She wanted some form of confirmation…

Before she realized it, Shuriko was sobbing and apologizing incoherently about being a busybody and how she shouldn’t have looked at the chest in the first place. Then she was enveloped in a warm embrace and ‘Tou-san’s hands were gently stroking her back.

“It’s okay Shuriko. It’s okay,” ‘Tou-san’s voice whispered soothingly.

“B-but… (sob) I’m… I’m r-really (sob) so-sorry, (sob) ‘Tou-san… I sh-shouldn’t have… (sob)-”

“It’s really okay, Shuriko. You just… surprised me. You really can draw, that picture is beautiful.”

“Th-that’s (sniff) because (sniff) Fuji-san is so (sniff), you know… like an angel…”

“Yes, he certainly is…”

“Ne, (sniff) ‘Tou-san… why did you keep all of those (sniff) Seigaku mementoes? Some (sniff) looked like training schedules… Were they _really_ training schedules?”

To her surprise, ‘Tou-san chuckled a little. “Yes, they were. I was going to discard them but-”

“Fuji-san asked you not to?” she ventured a guess. From what Eiji-san had said, Fuji-san seemed to like collecting items.

“ _Aa…_ I guess the habit stuck after a while.”

“ _Maa_ … I kinda pity the regulars under you, ne ‘Tou-san… those looked intensive… and Eiji-san said you loved to give them laps to run…”

…

Two hours later, they had both covered, possibly, the whole of ‘Tou-san’s teenage life by bantering with each other. Shuriko learnt more about Fuji-san and ‘Tou-san. And it was much like what Oishi-san had mentioned that day: it was hard to pinpoint just what kind of a relationship Fuji-san and ‘Tou-san had. But it could be summed up quite simply.

“ _They were just Syuusuke and Kunimitsu to each other_ ,” she murmured quietly.

“Shuriko?”

“Huh? Oops… well, that was what Eiji-san told me… I just realized that it really seemed to be quite true, that’s all.”

She watched as ‘Tou-san closed his eyes; probably mentally sighing about what Eiji-san had told her. But she was pleasantly surprised when ‘Tou-san just said in a mildly resigned tone (or as resigned as he could be), “That Kikumaru… he does have a way with words…”

“Yeah, Eiji-san does have that ability ne? Do you think he realizes it?”

“Maybe not.”

“Mmhm… Ne, ‘Tou-san, you know, you’re really _very handsome_ when you were young.”

“That so?” ‘Tou-san sounded mildly amused.

“Of course! If I saw you then, I’ll definitely be one of the millions who had a crush on you!” Shuriko stated firmly, nodding her head enthusiastically.

“And he’s still as handsome as he was before,” came a new voice from the doorway of her room.

“’Kaa-san! How long have you been out there?”

“Yurino…”

‘Kaa-san walked in, holding a few pieces of paper in her hands. Sitting down next to ‘Tou-san on the bed, ‘Kaa-san handed them to ‘Tou-san and said, “I hope most of the facts are right, Kunimitsu.”

‘Kaa-san waited for ‘Tou-san to read most of the pages before standing up to leave. It made Shuriko curious to the contents of the pages. They seemed to be a story, and she knew that ‘Kaa-san could write really well. She wanted to know what was in those pieces of paper and so, opened her mouth to stop ‘Kaa-san from leaving. But she was beaten to it by ‘Tou-san.

“Yurino, wait… It’s almost time for Shuriko to sleep… Why don’t we tell her a bedtime story? The one that you’ve always wanted to tell her…” he said quietly.

“A-are you sure… Kunimitsu?”

“Yes.” He smiled.

And she smiled back.

So both her parents sat down on either side of her bed and started a long story. It was a somewhat familiar story, but with much more emotion and much more detail than what she had ever heard before. Although she felt that she was too old for bedtime stories, she didn’t protest that night. And when Shuriko looked out of the window momentarily, the stars seemed to be twinkling from above with a tinge of blue.

* * *

  
_That night, an angel came into my dreams._

 _I saw blue eyes… a brilliant, sparkling azure…_

 _I think he thanked me._

 _But thank you too, Fuji-san…_

 _…_

 _Thank you so very much._


End file.
